Spring is (almost) here

By: Zdenko Kahlina

Finally it’s that time of the year and let’s get out there and ride.This morning at the Sherwood Park Tim Horton’s there weren’t too many riders showing up for the first road ride of the year. I’m guessing it’s because not everybody is used to have first ride this early in the season. Well, not here in Alberta, anyway.

This year the weather is looking very nice with a temperature of +11 and sunny. It’s much better than last year at this time, so group of us decided to go out for a ride a week earlier. Al McCalder has offered to lead a club ride on this Sunday, April 3 @ 09:00 am. Leaving from the Wye Road Tim Hortons/Safeway in Sherwood Park. Distance and time: about 50+ kms in about 2.5 hours or so.

This is THE fastest group of EMCC riders.

I was happy to finally venture out of my basement cave, where I’d been riding my bike on a stationary trainer. In the morning at the Sherwood Park Tim Horton’s there weren’t too many riders showing up for the first road ride of the year. I’m guessing it’s because of a cold weather.

This is THE oldest group of EMCC riders.

Today we actually had enough starters for the third group.

The first challenge was getting used to actually going somewhere on a bike again! You’d think that’d be easy, but spending many cumulative hours on a stationary bike, where you don’t have to steer or pay attention to the road but rather a TV, deadens your bike-handling senses. Other than the vibration of the tires spinning, riding on the trainer is pretty much silky-smooth.

Man, it feels good to go bike riding after a long winter.

The road conditions were nothing like that. Sand, potholes, cracks and bumps… have I mention sand? Here in Alberta when the spring comes, we end up with lots of sand on the side of the roads. All these obstacles were there to bounce me around and give me a crash course in outdoor riding again–hopefully without the actual crash!

Pace was relaxed at the beginning. If I only knew what was to come…

But thankfully, here’s where all that indoor training might have come in handy! I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could pedal right into the wind and not feel like I was going to lose. I wasn’t breaking any speed records, my heart was pounding and my lungs were heaving, but I actually felt a bit used to the effort, and it was paying off when going against the wind and up the hills.

Soon I was back in town, getting closer and closer to the Tim Horton’s and the parking lot where I left my car. I found myself running out of energy just as I was approaching the end of my ride, but to fight it is a good thing, since I wanted to get a good workout today.

I hope next weekend, when the first EMCC OFFICIAL ride of the season is scheduled, we’ll have even warmer weather, which will for sure mean more people will show up for the ride.

See you all at the same place on Sunday, April 10, 2011 end have a happy Easter.

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